The first over the air charging system

Thanks to things like Qualcomm Quick Charge, Dash Charge, and Qi wireless charging, topping up our phones has gotten a lot faster and more convenient over the years. However, even with the advancements that we’ve made, there’s no denying that charging our phones is still something we have to think about. Whether you’re plugging a cable into your device or laying it on top of a wireless charging pad, you still have to perform a specific action to start topping up.

The FCC recently approved a new wireless charging system called WattUp from Energous, and its goal is to make it so you never have to think about charging your phone ever again.

We’ve been dreaming about devices that would automatically charge themselves for years, and that’s kind of what Energous is setting out to do. WattUp is being marketed as the world’s first “over-the-air, power-at-a-distance” system, meaning that your phone will automatically start charging as long as it’s within close proximity of the WattUp Mid Field transmitter.

The transmitter sends radio frequency energy waves to devices that support WattUp, and at this time, supported tech will start charging as long as they’re within three feet of it.

As per Energous CEO Stephen R. Rizzone:

Older wireless charging technologies have received limited adoption over the past 15 years, and are confined to contact-based charging only. The FCC certification of Energous’ power-at-a-distance wireless charging transmitter is a major market milestone. It opens up options, outside of just contact-based charging, to Wireless Charging 2.0: an ecosystem where devices can be charged both, via pad and at a distance.

Energous says that WattUp will function similar to Wi-Fi in regards to its interoperability between various devices and manufacturers, and although we don’t have an ETA for when we’ll see this tech come to market, Energous will be demoing it at CES 2018